Montamarta
ZamoraCastilla y León
Compound toponym. Monta-, a contraction of Latin mons, montis ('mount') in composition. -Marta, from the Christian hagionym Marta (from Aramaic Marta, 'lady, mistress', sister of Lazarus and Mary in the Gospels). It means 'mount of Saint Martha' —an allusion to a medieval hermitage or temple dedicated to the saint, today vanished, on the top of the hill.
Martha, sister of Lazarus and Mary of Bethany according to the Gospels, was a central figure of medieval feminine spirituality —the evangelical episode in which Christ reproaches her for her concern with material things while praising Mary's contemplative attitude crystallised as a symbol of the 'active life / contemplative life' binomial. The name, of Aramaic origin (marta, 'lady', feminine of mar, 'lord', the same term that in Christian Aramaic designates Christ: mar-yah), was popular in medieval Christian onomastics. The contraction Monta- of mons in composition is typical of Castilian toponymic compounds: we saw earlier Mombuey (Mons Bovetum) and Mondoñedo (Mons Donegi). The Zamora toponym documents a hermitage or temple dedicated to Saint Martha at the top of the hill, today vanished or replaced. The hamlet, in the council of Montamarta, lies above the Esla reservoir, a great 20th-century hydraulic work that flooded part of the historic territory. The pilgrim crosses it after Zamora on the way to Granja de Moreruela.
Evolution of the name
- mons + Marta late Latin 8th — 11th centuries
- Montamarta medieval Castilian from the 12th century
Glossary
- Hagionym
- The proper name of a saint (Iacobus, Emeterius, Iuliana). When applied to a place, it produces a hagiotoponym.
- Onomastics
- The linguistic discipline that studies proper names — of persons, places and institutions. "Onomastic readings" are competing etymological hypotheses about a name.
Sources
- Pascual Riesco Chueca — Toponimia mayor de la provincia de Zamora
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